Regional schools to be focus of teacher cash incentives

Education Minister James Merlino said regional and rural schools will be favoured when the state government offers $50,000 sweeteners to lure top teachers to challenging schools.

But educators and experts at The Age Schools Summit warned that cash alone would not keep good teachers in the system, and graduate teachers needed better career paths and close mentoring.

The state government package includes payments of $9000 each year for three years for teachers who stay in the nominated struggling school in positions that have proved difficult to fill, such as maths and science.

"This is the biggest investment in the education workforce in our state's history ... We think it will make a big difference," said Mr Merlino.

The policy was endorsed by Federal Minister for Education Dan Tehan who praised the package for "moving in the right direction".

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But in a panel discussion, Camberwell Grammar's Jason Hall noted that a similar plan did not persuade teachers to stay at challenging schools in the UK and Dr Mary Oski, director of learning services of Catholic Education Melbourne, expressed concern that regional and rural Catholic schools could lose talent.

"Based on the assumption that the Victorian payments are just for government schools, my concern is that it could impact the ability for Catholic schools in the area to attract high quality teachers," Dr Oski said.

Principals and teachers in attendance agreed that payment is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to attracting and retaining high-quality teachers.

"Wages are important but it’s not the most important. I think teachers being happy is the most crucial," said Kadir Emniyet, principal of Keysborough Islamic school Mount Hira College.

Mount Hira College principal Kadir Emniyet said school culture is more important than wages for retaining teachers. Credit:Charlotte Grieve

Mr Emniyet said a healthy school culture comes from having well behaved students, autonomous teachers and strong leadership.

"Once the board starts micro-managing, it upsets the principal, the driver, the captain and that’s not successful," he said.

In regional areas, Portland education worker Zac Jeffries said the state government incentives would create tensions between employees.

Jeffries said the pay incentives for regional teaching was a bad idea. Credit:Charlotte Grieve

"If we were sitting in our staff room, and we knew that this new person was being paid an extra, they wouldn’t be well received," he said.

Mr Jeffries said the incentives give the impression the job is undesirable.

He believes the lifestyle of regional teaching should be promoted instead.

"On a teachers income, I was able to buy a farm and a house," he said. "To get people out of the city, there needs to be that lifestyle pull, the lower housing costs."

Having taught at Hillcrest Christian College near Berwick, Mr Jeffries said regional classrooms were also more productive due to the smaller class sizes.

"In the city, you don’t know the children or their background but in Portland I know their backgrounds and family and why they are the way they are," he said.

Rural education expert Phil Brown welcomed the state government's cash incentives, but said additional training should also be provided to prepare city teachers moving to the bush.

"For example, if you're going into an Indigenous community, you need to have an understanding of what that's like," he said.

Phil Brown [left] and Bill Jeffs from Country Education Project said the state government financial incentives are a good start. But more is needed. Credit:Charlotte Grieve

Mr Brown called for universities to do more work with remote schools and also said teachers need to be provided with housing when they moved into the country.

Mr Merlino also said the profession of teaching needs to be valued more highly in Australia to boost interest in the profession from high achieving school leavers.

“It is a noble profession like no other. Great teachers can change lives,” he said. "We want society to see teachers as up there with doctors and lawyers."

Ms Sonnemann presented research that recommended higher pay for entry-level roles, higher ATARs for school leavers and new well-paid senior teaching roles, so that high achievers want to choose education as a career.

The research carved out two new roles: an "instructional specialist" as a part-teaching, part-teacher support role paid $40,000 higher than regular teachers.

A "master teacher" role would be like a consultant, working between schools to improve overall operations. Only the top one per cent of teachers would become master teachers, said Ms Sonnemann, and could be paid up to $80,000 more than teachers.

"This would say if you're really good at teaching and excel, there are opportunities to drive teaching and learning across schools," she said.

Aitken College Principal Josie Crisara agreed there needs to be career paths for people who don't want to stay in the classroom but excel in the industry.

"Not everyone wants to be a principal," she said.

"You can become the head of a faculty, head of literacy but then that pulls you out of the classroom. A hybrid role that brings in management would be great," she said.

Principal Josie Crisara said new roles were needed in the education industry. Credit:Charlotte Grieve